Translation commentary on Luke 23:2

Exegesis:

ērxanto de katēgorein autou ‘they began to accuse him.’ For archomai with infinitive cf. on 4.21. Here it is best understood as denoting the beginning of an act. For katēgoreō cf. on 6.7.

touton heuramen diastrephonta to ethnos hēmōn ‘we found this man subverting our people.’ touton is emphatic and contemptuous. heuramen may mean ‘we found out,’ or ‘we caught,’ implying intentional search, preferably the latter because of the fact that a participle is following and not an infinitive. to ethnos hēmōn may refer to the Jewish nation in the political sense, or be used in the same general sense as in 7.5, probably the latter.

diastrephō (also 9.41) here ‘to subvert,’ in a political sense.

kōluonta phorous Kaisari didonai ‘forbidding to give taxes to Caesar.’ For this phrase cf. on 20.22.

legonta heauton Christon basilea einai ‘saying that he is the Messiah, a king.’ For Christos cf. on 2.11. basilea is best understood as an apposition to Christon added as a clarification of the meaning of Christos.

Translation:

Accuse, see on 6.7.

We found this man perverting our nation, i.e. we caught this fellow while he was perverting our nation. For found cf. on 7.10. To pervert, or, ‘to instigate to rebellion’ (Willibrord), ‘to stir-up’ (Malay). Our nation, cf. on 7.5; the pronoun has exclusive force.

Forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, see on 9.49 and on 20.22 and references.

Saying, or a more specific verb, coloured by the context, “claiming” (e.g. An American Translation), ‘pretending’ (Bible de Jérusalem).

A king, or, ‘that means, a king.’

Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Luke 23:2

23:2a

And: This verse begins with a common Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as And. It introduces what the council members did when they reached the place where Pilate was. In some languages it may be necessary to indicate that they arrived there. For example:

When they arrived ⌊at Pilate’s court⌋
-or-
There

they began to accuse Him: The clause they began to accuse Him indicates that the council members started to accuse Jesus of doing wrong. They brought formal charges against him. They told Pilate some untrue things about Jesus because they wanted Pilate to condemn him and execute him. Some other ways to translate the clause are:

they started to tell ⌊Pilate⌋ their accusations against Jesus
-or-
they accused Jesus

In some languages there are special ways to introduce formal charges against someone. For example:

They filed-charges-against-him
-or-
They opened the case against him (Revised English Bible)

Translate this clause in a natural way in your language. If you have a special way to refer to bringing legal charges against someone, you may be able to use it here.

saying: The verb saying introduces the specific things that the council members said to accuse Jesus. These were formal accusations that they told Governor Pilate. Introduce this accusations in a natural way in your language Some other ways to introduce them in English are:

They said to ⌊Governor Pilate⌋
-or-
They declared

The three statements in 23:2b–d are connected with the common Greek conjunction that is often translated as “and.” They can be translated as three separate accusations or as three accusations separated by commas (as in the Berean Standard Bible).

23:2b

In this part of the verse the Jewish leaders made their first formal charge against Jesus. They were speaking respectfully to an important government leader. In some languages there may be a special way to address Pilate respectfully or to introduce their speech. For example:

We greet you, Governor Pilate.

Begin the speech in a respectful way in your language.

We found this man subverting our nation: Here the Jewish leaders told Pilate that they had discovered Jesus subverting their people. The word subverting implies that Jesus was influencing the people to oppose the Roman government. This was a serious charge against Jesus, but it was not true.

Some other ways to translate this clause are:

We found this man inciting our people to revolt (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
We have investigated this person, and we know that he’s causing trouble in our town
-or-
We caught this person in the act of persuading our countrymen the Jews to riot/revolt.
-or-
We heard/discovered this man telling our people to be rebellious

Translate the leaders’ false accusation in a way that is natural in your language.

We: The pronoun We refers here to the Jewish council members. It does not include Pilate or anyone else who was present.

found: In this context the verb found means “have discovered.” It probably implies that the leaders heard and saw what Jesus did. It may also imply that they investigated by asking other people.

this man: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as this man means “this one.” It was a disrespectful way to refer to Jesus, and it is emphasized in the sentence. Another way to translate this disrespect in English is:

this fellow

Use a natural way in your language to express the disrespect.

subverting: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as subverting means “misleading, perverting.” It implies that Jesus was telling the Jewish people to oppose the Roman government. That was not true. If your language has an idiom that expresses the meaning of subverting, you may be able to use it here. Here is another way to translate this:

stirs up trouble (God’s Word)

our nation: The council members used the phrase our nation to refer to the Jewish people. They were Jews, but Pilate was not a Jew. Use an appropriate form to translate the phrase in your language. For example:

our(excl) people

23:2c

forbidding payment of taxes to Caesar: Here the council members lied to Pilate. They said that Jesus told people that they should not pay taxes to Caesar. This statement was false, as 20:25 shows.

Some other ways to translate this false statement are:

He has been saying that we(excl) should not pay taxes to Caesar
-or-
telling them not to pay taxes to the Emperor (Good News Translation)
-or-
he stops/hinders people from paying taxes to Caesar

Caesar: Caesar was the title given to all the Roman emperors. For more information, see the note at 20:22.

23:2d

proclaiming Himself to be Christ: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as proclaiming is more literally “saying.” The Jewish leaders were telling Pilate what Jesus said about himself. They told Pilate that Jesus called himself Christ. The Jewish leaders did not believe that Jesus was the Christ. In some languages it may be helpful to make this clear by saying:

⌊he falsely⌋ says that he is Christ

Christ, a King: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Christ, a King is literally “Christ king.” The Jewish leaders added the word King to explain or emphasize the meaning of the title Christ to Pilate. They may have thought that because Pilate was not Jewish, he might not know the meaning that Jewish people gave to the word Christ.

In some languages it is necessary to make the connection between Christ and King more explicit. For example:

Christ, meaning “king”

Since the Jews referred to a specifically Jewish king, you may need to indicate that here. It also provides the implied connection with Pilate’s question in 23:3a, “Are you the king of the Jews?” For example:

Messiah, our king (Contemporary English Version)

Christ: The Jews used the title Christ to refer to the person whom God had appointed and promised to send as king and savior. The title Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah,” and the two words have the same meaning.

Some ways to translate Christ in this context are:

• Use a title or a descriptive phrase in your language that has the same meaning as Christ. For example:

Messiah
-or-
Promised Deliverer

• Transliterate Christ and include a phrase that explains the meaning. For example:

Christ, the appointed one
-or-
Cristo, the Savior whom God promised to send
-or-
the Christ who comes from God

If you usually use this option to translate Christ, you may want to shorten the phrase that explains the meaning. Or you may want to substitute the word “king” for the usual phrase.

• Transliterate Christ and indicate in some way that it is a title. For example:

the Christ
-or-
the Kirisita

The title Christ also occurred in 20:41. Most of the information in the note at 20:41b is repeated here. For more information, see Christ, in the Glossary.

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